The Medical Manager (Kuroko x OC)

Chapter 22

-Emiko POV-

We were 7 points ahead at the start of the second quarter.
I looked at Kagami and I got worried.
'He's looking too exhausted for the second quarter... and this time Takao is making things hard on Tetsuya again'

But then...
"You have got to be kidding me" I whispered when I saw Midorima doing a fake.
Kagami jumped twice, it seemed like he was too late for Midorima's real shot, but Kagami got a finger on it... making Midorima miss.

"Tetsu! The ball is still in play!" I yelled and he got the ball just in time.
He passed to Izuki, who scored again.
The second time Midorima used a fake, Kiyoshi came to help, because Kagami was too late.

'No way...' I thought when I saw Midorima looking at Takao.
"Is he..." I whispered and he passed. "You're kidding me"
'He has changed...'

"I don't believe this" said Furihata. "They were strong enough before. They don't have a weakness anymore!"
"This is crazy!" said Fukuda. "How are we supposed to handle this?"

"Don't lose your heads!" shouted Riko. "Keep cheering for them"
"Shutoku aren't the only ones who've grown" said Koganei. "Besides, we have him now"
He looked at Kiyoshi and we all relaxed.

"He's great at times like this, true men like Kiyoshi" said Koganei.
I saw Kiyoshi talk to the guys and Tetsuya looked defeated.
Coach benched Tetsuya and I gave him a towel.

"You'll get your time to shine" said Koganei. "Don't lose your focus"
"Thank you" said Tetsuya.
"Don't worry" said Koganei. "Leave it to everyone else"

"I'm fine" said Tetsuya. "If anything, this will make it easier to use my new drive. Besides... I'm not worried. I believe in them"
I smiled and sat down next to Tetsuya.
"That's right" I said.

The game continued, and Kiyoshi and Kagami double-teamed Midorima.
I was getting worried about Kiyoshi's knees though...
"It's no use" said Tsuchida. "We're stopping Midorima, but our inside is useless"

But then we got a fast break and we scored, even Hyuga was shooting threes.
"Two things have changed since Teppei joined" said Riko. "The first is strengthening of our inside. The other is quickening of our passing by cycling the ball with our point guard Izuki-kun. High paced shootouts are our speciality"

Kiyoshi lost the rebound and Midorima managed to shoot a three.
The second quarter was over...

~

"Listen up" said Hyuga. "Honestly speaking, stopping Shutoku is really difficult for us right now. Our only choice is to score more than they do"
The game began again...
Midorima managed to get the ball and they took the lead...

"What is it, Koga?" asked Tsuchida.
"Just now, was he... smiling for a second?" asked Koganei, looking at Midorima.
They stole a pass, they had studied our favourite plays...

"Kagami!" I said when I saw that he was unable to jump.
His legs were trembling...
'I should make coach sub him out...'

"Coach" said Tetsuya.
"What?" said Riko.
"I think I can do it now" said Tetsuya and I smiled. "My new drive"

Tetsuya gave me his T-shirt and he smiled at me.
"Go for it" I whispered and he nodded.
When he went onto the field, I saw him readjusting the wristband and I smiled, touching mine.

'Go, Tetsuya'
"As always, Takao's all over Kuroko" said Koganei.
"But, he can't stop him now" I said and they all looked at me. "He developed this technique to defeat the Generation of Miracles. Show us what you can do"

Kagami managed to screen out Takao.
Tetsuya ran to Midorima and he caught the ball.
I smiled and looked at them intensely.

Tetsuya began to dribble and vanished right in front of Midorima's eyes.
"Yes!" I shouted and jumped up from my seat.
We scored because Tetsu got passed Midorima.

Because Tetsuya had them troubled, we managed to get the rebound.
He even used his drive to get passed Takao, which made us score even more.
We were slowly closing the gap, but they got careless and Tetsuya stole the ball as well.
At the end of the third quarter, we caught up and the score was equal.